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 China is crucial if Walt Disney Co's first foray into the
world of Jedi knights is to earn a spot among the top-grossing
films of all time. The movie, the seventh in a near 40-year-old
franchise, surged past "Jurassic World" to set a global opening
weekend record of $529 million.
Disney has had to work hard for its "Star Wars" buzz in China.
Though the franchise launched in 1977 - a year after the end of
the Cultural Revolution and the death of China's founding leader
Mao Zedong - the original films weren't shown in movie theaters
until this June.
But after promotions featuring everything from 500 model
stormtroopers on the Great Wall to a pop star dubbed China's
answer to Justin Bieber, a Reuters analysis of posts on popular
microblog Sina Weibo shows "Star Wars" has been mentioned around
700,000 times since the start of December, outpacing other big
hit Hollywood releases in China this year.
"I roughly know the story plot but I have never seen any of the
films in the series before," admitted Yao Yiyun, 22, a computer
programming student in Shanghai. "When it comes out at the
cinemas I want to see it though, especially because I like
science fiction."
Online chatter won't guarantee box office success in China for
the film, which has a red-carpet premiere in Shanghai on Sunday
and goes on general release in the mainland on Jan. 9.
But curiosity among the world's biggest online community could
help the film rival smash hits like action movie "Furious 7",
the latest in a series long popular with Chinese viewers that
took over $180 million in its opening weekend in China.
Over a comparable period in its pre-release schedule, "Furious
7" had racked up 230,000 Weibo hits, before soaring to over
300,000 hits in a single day when it opened this year.
Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations Co,
predicts "The Force Awakens" will take in some $100 million
during its first weekend in China. Others forecast more.
"The movie is going to do well regardless of its take here,"
said Ben Cavender, Shanghai-based principal of China Market
Research Group. "But if it wants to target global records then
how it does in China is going to be critical."
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A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY
In 2005, the previous Star Wars installment was comparatively
unknown in China and brought in just $9 million in ticket sales. But
moviegoing has become hugely popular in the meantime, with the
Chinese box office set to hit almost $9 billion in 2019 from $5
billion this year, according to PwC, fast catching up with the
United States.
Piracy, once the scourge of Hollywood in China, is also not as
rampant as it once was, as increasingly active Chinese film
companies have pressured the government to crack down.
The film's delayed release date may also help, as Chinese viewers
see the success abroad first.
"(Chinese moviegoers) are very attuned to what happens in the rest
of the world," said Greg Foster, chief executive of cinema group
IMAX Corp, which saw the film take in $48 million in its theaters
worldwide in its opening weekend.
Disney, for its part, has pulled out the stops. As well as running
ads featuring Chinese pop star Lu Han as an honorary Jedi
"ambassador" for the movie and making use of the of the iconic Great
Wall, it has reconfigured posters to enhance the fighter jets
popular with local viewers.
But while Disney has been beefing up merchandising ties with China,
it still has work to do if "Star Wars" is to truly take root in the
country ahead of future installments, said Chen Tao, the head of
China fan site StarWarsChina.com. The site expects the film to take
around $150 million in China.
"In the United States there are 'Star Wars' comics, games and other
products released all the time – helping create an ardent fan base,"
he said.
"We don't really have this in China, meaning moviegoers lack those
close ties with the series. This could lower its impact."
(Reporting by Adam Jourdan in SHANGHAI and Lisa Richwine in LOS
ANGELES; Editing by Clara Ferreira Marques and Kenneth Maxwell)
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